We are calling everyone in the disciple making tribe to focus on one key skill in the next four months.
Intentionality is the important skill and the most practical word in disciple making. The Oxford English Dictionary describes intentionality as “the fact of being deliberate or purposive.”
Intentionality is the first expression encountered when we describe Jesus’ method of disciple making, which is Intentional Relational Transformation. Jesus was so intentional that sixty years ago Robert Coleman summarized his whole method with the expression, The Master Plan. It was not the Master’s plan, but The Master Plan.[1]
Intentionality guided everything Jesus did.
Jesus practiced intentionality and taught us to do the same – it is ongoing strategy, direction, and a clear sense of the next steps for those we are discipling.
This concept may be hard for people to believe in or fully grasp. Among Christians, there is a common posture that people take, saying: “Only God can guide people, our only job is to pray and trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance in another person’s life.” The problem with this posture is that it is at odds with the teaching of Jesus and with disciple making as it is found in the Bible.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19-20 make it clear that we have a role to play in guiding people in the ways of God, which is what intentionality is all about:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (NIV).
This text begins with two imperatives: “go” and “make.” You can only follow those imperatives by being intentional. A disciple maker, by definition, is guided by intentionality and planning.
We find balance in the text because it ends with a promise of Jesus’ presence. He tells us that in the disciple-making process He is with us always, to the very end of the age. So, it is our job to practice intentionality by “going” and “making disciples.” It is God’s promise that he will be with us, working in the process. Intentionality is a human-divine partnership – we intentionally do our part and God is present doing his part.
Because of the importance of intentionality in disciple making, we at Discipleship.org are going to emphasize this skill set and mindset over the next four months.
Please join with us and seek to share understanding, insight, and practical tools so that you can become skilled at intentionality in relational disciple making and you can help those on your team or in your leadership group to do the same.
There are four ways in which we are emphasizing intentionality to help you in the next four months.
- Discipleship.org City Tour Forums – our four City Tour Forums are designed to help you and your team both understand and develop an intentionality posture. The tour is comprised of one day, high impact forums where there will be teaching and round table discussions. Every attendee also gets a copy of Brandon Guindon’s book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making.
Click the image below for more information.
Take the FREE Individual Disciple Maker Assessment – we designed this assessment with a team of national and international disciple making leaders to help each individual be able to evaluate their disciple making mindset and skill. Just by taking this assessment, you will gain an appreciation for the value of intentionality, along with a sense of how you can increase your own level of intentionality.
Click the image below to take the assessment.
- Read the short FREE book, Becoming a Disciple Maker: The Pursuit of Level Five Disciple Making – I wrote this short eBook with statistician Greg Wiens to help you understand the mathematical and practical impact of one person’s disciple making efforts and skills.
Click the image below to download this free eBook.
- Read Brandon Guindon’s book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making – Brandon wrote this Discipleship.org book and Zondervan is publishing, because the understanding and practice of disciple making is so crucial. Every attendee at each of our City Tour events (Nashville, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh), as mentioned above, will receive a FREE copy of Brandon Guindon’s book.
Click the image below to pre-order Brandon Guindon’s book from Amazon.com.
Please join with us in this quest to better understand and practice intentionality. It will help us all to become more and more like Jesus, the world greatest disciple maker.
Bobby Harrington, CEO
Discipleship.org
[1] The gold standard in describing Jesus’ method of disciple making is Robert Coleman’s book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, originally published in 1963.